A Latias's Tragedy
by DeltaFlame
Summary: A Latias meets her untimely end, and her trainer is now left to pick up the pieces.


A Latias's Tragedy

"These should be perfect" Latias thought to herself happily as she gathered a sizeable amount of ripe hondew berries in her small arms. She and her trainer partner Marcus had just stopped to rest for the day amid the rolling forest-covered hills and Latias decided to gather more berries for them to prepare a mid-morning breakfast. Unfortunately for the both of them, however, Latias would never make it back to their campsite. As the rising sun reflected against her shimmering white feathers and she took in the wonderful soft breeze around her, she heard a distant but loud shot echo through the trees followed by a sharp cold pain pierce her side; she dropped the fruit, and as she looked down in chilling fear she saw a steady stream of blood trickle down her already red feathery down. She looked behind her and noticed the shady figure of a Pokémon hunter amid the trees, already pulling the trigger for his next shot. Latias tried to dodge but couldn't match the speed of a bullet as it made its mark again, this time hitting her bullseye through her blue chest-mark. She let out an empty breathless gasp of pain as she turned invisible and fled for her life. She shivered as a wave of cold overcame her, the gravity of the earth seeming to pull her ever closer to the ground. She was losing a lot of blood, and she had ventured rather far from their campsite. Much like a plane, she crash-landed against the soft grassy ground. Latias's vision became blurry as she struggled to get up. "Why is this happening to me?" she cursed her fate as her lips began to feel numb and dry; she begged for this all to be just a bad dream, but still she wasn't waking up. Latias dug her stubby claws into the ground, trying to find the strength to lift herself up and make it back to the safety of her loving human. But nothing she did helped. A single tear rolled down her face as she heard the crunching of leaves under heavy footsteps as her vision soon faded completely, a pool of her blood now forming underneath her.

"I'm sorry, Marcus…" she thought to herself, "I love you…"

The sun was already beginning to near the horizon, and Latias still wasn't back yet. Had she gotten lost? Or worse, maybe she got caught in a trap and stolen by some villainous organization. Marcus couldn't bear to wait any longer and set out to find his love. As he made his way through the forest, he spotted a local restaurant and approached, unaware of what exactly he would find within. As he entered the door, the air smelled delicious as the place was packed with customers. He was about to ask around for any clues of her whereabouts, when he glanced upon the sign of daily specials. What he saw made his stomach drop. He felt as though he was about to faint as he read the sign, which read, "DAILY SPECIAL: LATIAS FILLET" He then noticed the plates most of the guests were eating from: a juicy-looking bright red fillet-cut of meat, fried and glazed with honey and a side of hondew berries. This had to all be just a nightmare, he thought to himself. Marcus tried to breathe, but found himself heaving heavily in an unsteady pace. He struggled for air as the room spun around him. "No… no, no, no, she can't be dead, she can't be…" He rushed past the tables and back into the kitchen, and as he saw a familiar body on the table he grabbed a nearby iron frying pan and in a blind fury knocked the three chefs and one butcher out cold. He dropped the skillet to the floor and slowly approached the pokémon's body on the table. Tears began flooding out of his eyes like waterfalls as reality hit him; it was definitely his Latias, cold, limp, and mutilated on the bloody butcher's table. The love of his life was dead. Her wings had been completely cut off and her ribcage removed, all for the purpose of feeding the restaurant's customers. A deep cut was stretched across her neck to drain her blood, shown by the dried blood crusted onto her now-dull lifeless grey feathers, which once shone with the most beautiful glistening white shimmer. He also noticed the two bullet marks in her torso from when she had been hunted earlier that day. Unfortunately, being such a rare pokémon also meant being a prime target for pokémon hunters to sell for a high price, alive _or_ dead, and rare pokemon were also a valuable (and somehow completely legal) delicacy. Marcus couldn't control his entire body from shaking as the one most important to him was taken away in such a brutal manner. Just then, some of the waiters finally caught on to what happened in the kitchen and charged him, ready to pin him down. But Marcus went into a rage, picking up the skillet again and mercilessly hitting all of them in the face with it. None of them were killed, but they all got a broken nose and a concussion to go along with it, and the skillet now had a fair amount of blood on it. He turned around, picked up his love's corpse, and slowly snuck out the back door.

Marcus couldn't stop crying as he thought about everything he and his Latias had been through together, and all the things they would now never experience together. Without her, he knew he would never be happy again. It still all felt like a dream to him, but he knew that he wouldn't be waking up. He walked about 30 minutes before stopping in a peaceful clearing between the trees, laying his Latias's body gently on the ground.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't be there to protect you, I should've been there to protect you…" He stuttered between breaths, his face hot and red from crying for so long. He crouched down on the ground and took out a fold-out shovel from his backpack that he normally used for planting berries and began digging a grave for the one that brought light to his life. After a few moments, he turned around at the sound of loud cawing and saw several Mandibuzz surrounding his pokémon's corpse. One had already begun picking at her open chest cavity.

"Get the fuck out of here, leave her alone!" He shouted between tears as he swung his shovel at the large pests. They quickly flew off, cawing again at him angrily as they went in search of another meal. As he dug for the next several hours, he was completely alone with his thoughts. "Maybe if I had her know Refresh or Recover, she might still be here…" he thought to himself. There were so many "what-if's" he couldn't help but think were all completely his fault. Occasionally he took a few breaks just to break down and cry even more. He was tired, but he couldn't sleep. There's no way he would even be able to. Many times that night, he had considered just killing himself right there so he could be with her again, but he knew in his heart that it wouldn't be what she wanted from him. Eventually, he had dug a hole deep enough for her to be laid to rest. He clenched his eyes tightly with despair as he gently picked her up and lowered her inside, his face now covered in tears as his eyes were nearly as red as his Latias was. He then paused for a moment to say his goodbyes.

"You meant everything to me, Latias." He sighed. "You were taken from me way too soon. I wanted to spend my whole life with you. And now… I'll never get to." His vision went blurry as tears covered his eyes once again. "Thank you for being the best part of my life." He struggled once again to breathe as it truly sunk in that he would never see her smile again, never hear her laugh, never hold her hand, never feel her kiss, never, never, never…

His fist pounded the ground in frustration as he let out an unrelenting yell. He seemed to cry for at least another hour until his mournful screams coincidentally caught the attention of a legendary Ho-oh flying high above the grave.

"What a pitiful sight…" the Ho-oh thought to herself as she saw the still-open grave with the Latias inside. "Such a sorry thing mustn't be so." As Marcus finally began slowly putting the dirt back on her, his deep depression only worsened. It was then that he suddenly felt an odd warmth from above, followed by the loud flapping of wings. He looked up and couldn't believe his tear-filled eyes, it appeared to be a Ho-oh approaching him. The giant bird landed next to the grave as Marcus looked on in dazed confusion.

"Be well again, my kin…" the Ho-oh spoke telepathically as she shed a single tear onto Latias's body. Suddenly, the Ho-oh opened its beak and Marcus looked on in horror as she used Sacred Fire on Latias's body, quickly crisping it to a pile of ashes.

"Why-!" Marcus yelled at the Ho-oh. "Haven't I suffered enough already?!"

"Behold, human…" The Ho-oh replied, gesturing down into the grave.

Marcus looked back down at the pile of ashes and his heart leapt. From the ashes shifted two white feathery ears into view, followed by a familiar red marking. Without even thinking, Marcus jumped down into the grave and brushed the ashes off the mysterious figure.

"M…Marcus…what's going on?" a voice said sleepily.

What he saw made him cry yet again, but this time they were tears of joy. Not only was Latias alive once again and fully healed from her injuries, but she remembered him too. Marcus tackled her and hugged her tighter than ever before, kissing her all over her ash-dusted face.

"And all is as it should be…" the Ho-oh nodded subtly and lifted off once again, having righted the horrible wrong that had occurred.

"Thank you, Ho-oh!" Marcus shouted as the legendary bird of fire flew off into the horizon as the sun was now dawning on a new day. He then turned to Latias again.

"What are we doing in here?" Latias asked, looking around the grave. "Last I remember…" her face changed from confusion to concern as she began to remember her last moments.

Marcus hugged her again, wanting to just stay in this moment forever. "Let's get out of here, okay? I'll tell you everything later." She lifted them both out of the grave and they just sat on the ground above for a bit longer, still hugging each other.

"I love you, Latias."

"I love you too, Marcus."

Marcus laughed, the worst day of his life now over.

"And I'm definitely going to have you learn Recover as soon as possible"

Latias smiled and nuzzled her face into Marcus's neck as he rubbed the back of hers, his hugging grip still painfully tight on her. He gave a content sigh of relief, having finally woken up from his nightmare.

"I am _never_ letting you go."


End file.
